“Are We Ready Yet, Santa?”

I had a bit of a miserable night with my now fully-developed cold. I realise now why I was feeling so rubbish earlier in the week. I was up for a couple of hours in the night but finally got back to sleep. It was a bit of a rush when I finally got up this morning as I had a fairly early appointment in Henley with the Orthotist - I now have a brand new custom made set of orthotics for my shoes and am hoping that they will help to keep my feet pain free. The cortisone is still helping a lot.

After my appointment I visited a nearby garden centre called Toad Hall. I’d never even heard of it until recently. I heard that it had wonderful Christmas displays, and it did! I bought a few small items and 2 poinsettias - one with pinkish variegated flowers and the other a deep burgundy. Certainly not the ones you see in the supermarket!

There were also many Santas - some for sale and some on display only. There was even the REAL Santa and lots of children were lining up to see him! I loved this statue of Santa and Rudolph - they look like they have a very strong bond and of course they DO!

The rest of the day was almost a PJ day! And of course cross country skiing was watched! Today’s races were sprints from Davos in Switzerland. My favourite US skier, Jessie Diggins, didn’t do so well but her team-mate Sophie Caldwell came third - or ‘joint-second’, depending on the commentator! The gold went to a new young Swedish skier and that was a very exciting final to watch! The men’s races were good too, but I seem to find the women’s races more exiting!